The Dom Who Loved Me

Per author's

website, next book in series is

The Men with the Golden Cuffs. Can't wait b/c I'm guessing "the men" will be Adam & Jake, the ménage boys. Yay! No additional info on the book yet though. Just lists it as coming soon.

Thoughts on Book #1: (spoilers exist, but are blocked)

The Dom Who Loved Me did a decent job of mixing suspense, action, and BDSM romance. I'm a

huge fan of Cherise Sinclair's

Masters of the Shadowlands series and I'm always on the look out for new series similar to it.

Masters and Mercenaries is a decent start to what could be a very sexy, fun series. However, in order for that to happen (for me), the main couple of the story must hold my attention more than the side-characters.

The Girl

Grace was easy to relate to - she's a 40 year-old widow with two kids in college and a HUGE fan of BDSM romance novels. She approached the subject of spicing up the romance with her husband, but he had no interest and didn't understand hers. Since his death six years prior, she's dated no one, but instead retreats into her books. Grace has hootspa. She is instantly drawn to Sean's confidence and attractive appearance and starts to visualize him as her Dom. Little does she know that Sean has already spotted her submissive behavior and cannot wait to get her into his bedroom. He admires her strong-willed personality and knows that they will be a perfect match because he has always wanted a sub in the bedroom, but an equal partner elsewhere.

The Team

Adam and Jake were previously in the Army Special Forces with Sean. When they go undercover, these two play a gay couple, which works well when trying to get information out of people. No one suspects the harmless gay couple. They are a hoot! They are nicknamed the ménage boys because they are on the hunt for a female to make their relationship complete.

(They are my favorite characters so far.)

Liam was equally intriguing, but we learned little about him. I'm looking forward to eventually reading his book. Eve, another partner on the team, was also interesting. She seems like a tough cookie. Ian, the leader of the team, is in a M/s relationship with several women. A bit of his history is shared with us at the end of the book. I'm interested in learning more about him. He comes across as being very cold, but I want to see if there's a gooey center in there somewhere.

The Mystery

The mystery of the story, the who-done-it, was revealed very early on, so the reader goes into the story knowing the who, but not necessarily the why. There is a slight twist revealed towards the end, but I had guessed it prior to the reveal.

The Ugly

This brings me to my

biggest complaint with this story. Sean, the currently sub-less Dom, seems very sure of himself in the beginning of the book, but becomes less so throughout the book. He's emphatic about his preferences when he tells his big brother, Ian, that he is only interested in a bedroom D/s relationship, not a 24/7 M/s relationship like Ian enjoys. However, that's exactly what he ends up with in the end. He's definitely hot, but his attitude in parts of the story left a lot to be desired. Even though Grace has learned much about the lifestyle, she has a book knowledge only. She is honest about this with Sean from the start. He doesn't slowly work her into the lifestyle, but rather forces (

NOTE: There is NO non-consen-sex in this book) certain things on her. This isn't a problem for her (only me, apparently), however as her body instantly responds to him and she is happy to finally experience the things she's only dreamed of up to this point. Additionally, those strong qualities that drew her to him as his "perfect partner" end up not mattering apparently because in the end he convinces her to enter into a M/s relationship after all.

This left me confused and frustrated. I applauded his appreciation of her hardworking, strong-willed personality and his belief that they would be good D/s in the bedroom and partner outside it. Then, what happened? He almost loses her and becomes overbaring and goes on a power trip? I don't know how else to explain it. Maybe if he was just some alpha male instead of an "experienced" Dom it would've made more sense? I'm not sure, but ultimately, I felt as though he didn't have a clue as to what kind of relationship he wanted. I would have been confused, to say the least, and while Grace does express some uncertainty when he changes his tune, she provides no real resistance to it.

O.o

I could NOT stand Grace's boss, Matt. I also could not fathom why she stayed there and continued to call him friend. Yes, he offered her a job when she couldn't find one. She has a work history now and could leave his ass at anytime, but she chooses to stay. No idea why. He calls her 'babe', drinks excessively and has her take him home, eventually says that she "can tolerate him and he loves her" so they should be together. WTF?!

Douche!

Lastly, when Grace's best friend was killed Sean didn't tell her about it, as he'd planned to do in private. But, instead, she's told in an interrogation room and he says, "Sorry. I was going to tell you." BLEH!

Asshole. To top it off, her friend was killed b/c the killer thought it was her ... talk about guilt. But, she doesn't appear as tore up over it as I would have been, which didn't make much sense to me either.

The Rating Explained

I'm sure you're thinking, wow, that's a lot of big complaints with the story, why 3★? Well, as I mentioned, the side-characters really made the story for me. I cannot wait for Adam and Jake to get their girl! I'm excited that their story is next (guessing based on the title) and, depending on how that one is written, I may or may not continue on with the series. There are other characters, as I mentioned, that I'm interested in, so we'll see.